Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010, Graz, Austria.
Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010, Graz, Austria; Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB GmbH), Krenngasse 37, 8010, Graz, Austria.
Environ Res. 2024 Dec 1;262(Pt 1):119858. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119858. Epub 2024 Aug 27.
Exposure to air pollution affects health of all organisms on earth but the impact on the plant microbiome is less understood. Here, we link the Air Quality Index with the dust and apple epiphytic and endophytic microbiome across the city of Graz (Austria). The microbiome of the apple episphere, peel endosphere and pulp endosphere, and surrounding dust was analyzed. Our results show that the fungal communities were more influenced by air quality than bacterial communities. Bacterial communities, instead, were more specific for the individual sample types, especially noticeable in the pulp endosphere. The microbiome of each sample type was comprised of distinct microbial communities. Overall, the bacterial communities were highly dominated by Proteobacteria followed by Bacteroidota and Actinobacteriota, and the fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota followed by Basidiomycota. With lower air quality, the relative abundance of the fungal orders Hypocreales and Pleosporales decreased in the apple episphere and the peel endosphere, respectively. Interestingly, an unexpectedly high level of similarity was observed between the bacterial communities of dust and peel endosphere, while the epiphytic bacterial community was significantly different compared to the other samples. We suggested that dust served as a potential microbial colonization route for the fruit microbiome as most bacteria (55%) colonizing the peel endosphere originated from dust. In conclusion, air quality affects the microbiome of edible plants, which can cause health consequences in humans. Therefore, this knowledge should be considered in urban and horticultural farming strategies.
暴露于空气污染会影响地球上所有生物的健康，但对植物微生物组的影响了解较少。在这里，我们将空气质量指数与格拉茨市（奥地利）的灰尘和苹果附生和内生微生物组联系起来。分析了苹果附生菌、果皮内圈和果肉内圈以及周围灰尘的微生物组。我们的结果表明，真菌群落比细菌群落受空气质量的影响更大。相反，细菌群落对个别样本类型更具特异性，在果肉内圈尤为明显。每个样本类型的微生物组由不同的微生物群落组成。总的来说，细菌群落主要由变形菌门（Proteobacteria）主导，其次是拟杆菌门（Bacteroidota）和放线菌门（Actinobacteriota），而真菌群落主要由子囊菌门（Ascomycota）主导，其次是担子菌门（Basidiomycota）。随着空气质量下降，在苹果附生菌和果皮内圈中，真菌目Hypocreales 和 Pleosporales 的相对丰度分别下降。有趣的是，灰尘和果皮内圈的细菌群落之间观察到出乎意料的高度相似性，而附生细菌群落与其他样本明显不同。我们认为，灰尘可能是水果微生物组潜在的微生物定植途径，因为定植在果皮内圈的大多数细菌（55%）来自灰尘。总之，空气质量会影响可食用植物的微生物组，从而可能对人类健康造成影响。因此，在城市和园艺农业策略中应考虑到这方面的知识。
